Dutch delights in London’s Mansion House

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The Harold Samuel Collection. A Guide to the Dutch and Flemish Pictures at the Mansion House

By Michael Hall with Clare Gifford

This nicely illustrated, informative, and inexpensive small companion volume will prove a useful companion to the Mansion House (London) installation of the celebrated Harold Samuel collection of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish pictures. A truly scholarly catalogue (with additional comparative images) by Dr Peter Sutton of precisely the same collection was published two decades ago . That work was arranged alphabetically by artist, whereas this newer one, truly a guidebook, follows the collection as the visitor encounters the pictures in sequence from the ground floor onwards to the south drawing room.  Here entries are arranged by number and artist name, and each bears a Sutton reference for further study.  For the most part the display, arranged by theme, clusters together multiple images by the same painter in his chosen speciality.

As the introduction makes clear, the personal taste of Lord and Lady Samuel shaped their collection, so some typical Dutch subjects, such as floral still-lifes, do not appear (though some were once owned by the Samuels in their shifting roster).  One well-represented painting type, winter landscapes, joins landscape panoramas and the sub-genre of Brazilian landscapes by Frans Post.  Genre scenes by Steen, de Hooch, and Maes as well as by the Fleming Teniers the Younger (especially his Five Senses, nos. 11–15) also figure prominently.  

Among the special highlights are Frans Hals' Merry Lute Player (no. 10); Jan Steen's Sleeping Couple (no. 17) and Musical Company (no. 36); Willem Kalf's Still Life (no. 42);and Jacob van Ruisdael's Panorama of Haarlem (no. 66).  Numerous fine works by Aert van der Neer, Nicolaes Maes, Adriaen van Ostade, and Jan van Goyen make the Samuel collection a good place to study their output, and the more specialized imagery of Willem van de Velde's marines or Jan van der Heyden's cityscapes also represents their mastery.

Thus, this handy, portable, affordable guide will enhance any visit to the Mansion House as well as serving as a memento of the distinguished Samuel collection there.  If specialists will want to consult Peter Sutton's earlier catalogue, Michael Hall deserves warm thanks for making these works increasingly accessible.

The Harold Samuel Collection. A Guide to the Dutch and Flemish Pictures at the Mansion House  by Michael Hall with Clare Gifford is published by City of London: Guildhall Art Gallery with Paul Holberton, 2012. 200 pp., 84 colour illus, £15. ISBN 978-1-907372-41-4